February 21, 2025
Myth-Busting Protected and Conserved Areas
What does it really mean to protect nature? It’s a question we hear all the time.
Does it mean closing off land? Stopping traditional activities like hunting, fishing, or berry picking? Affecting farms and cottages? The truth is, that protecting land and water is about keeping natural spaces healthy—for wildlife, for people, and for future generations. Let’s break down the facts and bust some recent myths about conservation in Manitoba.
The Government of Manitoba has released a fact sheet about protected and conserved areas in the province, outlining what they are, how they work, and what they mean for communities, wildlife, and land use. We’ve pulled out some key highlights and created this FAQ to address some of the most common questions and misconceptions we’ve received about protected areas and the 30×30 conservation goal. While we encourage everyone to read the full document for a complete understanding, we hope this blog helps everyone understand what protected areas mean for Manitobans.
MYTHBUSTING:
- What is a protected area?
In Manitoba’s provincial fact sheet about protected and conserved areas, they state “Protected areas are defined land and water areas managed over the long term, through legal or other effective means, to conserve biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural values. The focus is on protecting a sample of all habitats found in Manitoba and by extension, the species that call them home. From arctic tundra to boreal forests, wetlands to grasslands and everything in between.
In Manitoba, examples of these areas include provincial parks, ecological reserves, wildlife management areas, provincially significant peatlands, and other designated Crown lands, municipal lands, national parks, and private lands owned by land trusts…”
- How does Manitoba establish new protected areas?
From the Manitoba government fact sheet:
“When making new protected areas on Crown land, Manitoba uses mechanisms that are already in place under provincial legislation such as The Provincial Parks Act or The Wildlife Act. There are established processes to ensure that the public and interested parties have a chance to provide input. Local and Indigenous knowledge, western scientific knowledge, and information on potential developments and economic opportunities are all considered. People influence the environment and cannot be separated from it. Public input is an important part of the protected areas planning process. Manitoba’s Protected Areas Initiative focuses on Crown lands not private lands.”
- What activities are allowed in a protected area??
From the Manitoba government fact sheet:
“In protected areas, activities such as ecotourism, licensed hunting, fishing, and trapping, lodge operations and outfitting, haying and grazing, winter roads, and other compatible activities are generally allowed if they are not harmful to the habitats being protected.”
For CPAWS Manitoba, we’ve never advocated for restricting access to hunting, fishing, or other traditional land uses. Our work has consistently upheld the principle that conservation and sustainable land use can go hand in hand. One of our key mandates is “connecting people with nature.”
- What about agricultural Crown forage lands?
From the Manitoba Government fact sheet:
“Manitoba recognizes that in addition to contributing to a sustainable agricultural economy, agricultural Crown forage lands play an important role in maintaining grassland biodiversity. Haying and grazing activities can mimic natural disturbances and have historically kept grasslands healthy and prevented forest encroachment. Manitoba has not designated any agricultural Crown lands as protected or conserved areas.”
- How does CPAWS Manitoba support the advancing establishment of new protected areas? Why are you involved?
At CPAWS Manitoba, we work to protect Manitoba’s lands and waters to support biodiversity and curb climate change. Our campaigns support creating protected areas, to help us get to 30% protection by 2030, to maintain biodiversity and the benefits it provides for people and wildlife.
As a consensus-seeking organization, we work with all involved to create solutions for nature. This includes crown governments, Indigenous governments, rightsholders, stakeholders, and the public at large.
One of the ways we help protect our lands and waters is by partnering with Indigenous communities to establish protected areas within their ancestral territories.
Many of the campaigns we’re involved in include providing avenues for individuals to conveniently express their support for specific protected area initiatives. These avenues come in the form of physical postcards and emails that are sent to the Manitoba government. We’ve been known to deliver thousands of postcards directly to the Premier or the Environment and Climate Change Minister when we meet with them.
Every letter, email, or phone call gets recorded by the province. This approach is a tried and true way of letting the government know the priorities of Manitobans. This mass public demand inspires our elected leaders to act to protect nature.
CPAWS is supportive of establishing protected lands and waters, which means keeping areas natural, to be available for sustainable and legal land-based activities.
6. What is an IPCA?
From the Manitoba government fact sheet:
“An Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) is an area where the purpose, development, establishment, and ongoing management reflect and enable Indigenous culture, interests and leadership. IPCAs vary by the place, jurisdictional landscape, the goals and values of the communities leading their development, and the partners involved.
Manitoba has worked positively with Indigenous nations on protected areas, and the Manitoba government is committed to working with Indigenous communities and the federal government to explore how IPCAs can help support management of traditional territories in Manitoba and build Manitoba’s network of protected and conserved areas for the benefit of all Manitobans.”
30×30:
30×30 is simply a goal of protecting 30% of lands and waters by the year 2030.
Canada made the commitment to protect 30% of its lands and waters in June 2020. The Manitoba government pledged to reach 30×30 within our province in October 2023. In 2022, at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (“COP15”), 196 countries and states committed to 30×30 through the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (See the list of countries here.)
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was developed over four years of consultations and research. The KMGBF has a “global vision of a world living in harmony with nature by 2050. Among the Framework’s key elements are 4 goals for 2050 and 23 targets for 2030”
Target 3 of the framework reads, “Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas, and of marine and coastal areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing Indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable, and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of Indigenous peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories.”
For Canada to reach the 30×30 goal, the protection of 2,995,401 sq km of lands and waters would have to be secured. That is over twice the size of the Northwest Territories!
Currently, only 11.1% of Manitoba is protected. We have a long way to go and a short time to conserve 30% of our province.
Many other conservation groups in Canada and globally have publicly endorsed 30×30, including the Canadian Wildlife Federation, the David Suzuki Foundation, Ducks Unlimited Canada, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, the Manitoba Habitat Conservancy, and the World Wildlife Fund.
CPAWS Legacy:
CPAWS National was founded in 1963 and has the goal of protecting half of Canada’s public land and waters for future generations. The Manitoba Chapter was established in 1991, since then we have helped establish 23 parks and protected areas in Manitoba through our campaign initiatives.
As a consensus-seeking organization, we work with all involved to create solutions for nature. This includes crown governments, Indigenous governments, rightsholders, stakeholders, and the public at large.
Through our public campaigns, since 2019 over 120,000 Manitobans have sent letters to the Manitoba government to show their support for growing Manitoba’s Protected Areas network.
Manitoba currently protects 11.1% of our province as natural landscapes. CPAWS Manitoba is involved in campaigns that would more than double the healthy lands and waters we conserve for future generations of people and wildlife.
Through inclusive conservation initiatives, we can ensure we establish a healthy balance of conservation and sustainable economic opportunities. We need to keep enough natural spaces for people to undertake land-based activities and benefit from life-giving ecosystem services such as fresh air, clean water, and helping to curb climate change.
How to Learn More
- Manitoba Province Protected Areas Fact Sheet
- CPAWS Manitoba’s campaigns overview